Introduction: Inexpensive Flat Conveyor Belts

After surfing around instructables for a couple of years, I finally decided to make some contributions of my own. The impetus for this instructable was to share with the community an alternative to dishing out lots of money for professionally made flat conveyor belts. With these DIY flat conveyor belts, conveyance is a breeze.

These belts were constructed as part of a low budget senior design project. After getting the process down, it took about 15 minutes of work amongst three people to make each 4' length x 1" width belt at about 50 cents per belt.

Step 1: Bill of Materials

You will need the following materials to make these belts. We spent under $50 on bulk materials, but the belts can be made with a much smaller investment than this using scrapped materials. By my estimation, each belt of about 4' length cost less than 50 cents each. Additionally, these supplies were sufficient to make hundreds of belts.

Step 3: Wrap the Twine

This takes a little bit of precision but it goes fast after the first belt. We targeted 1" width belts, so we used 5 grooves. To speed this process, putting the twine on a screwdriver (shown in attached image) makes dispensing twine easier.

Wrap the twine around the string aligners in one long pass

We used two loops per groove, meaning there were ten loops per belt. This provided plenty of strength to our belts

Use one pass of string (a.k.a. one giant loop) for optimal strength in the belts

At the start and end of the twine, twist the strings in a spiral to ensure that the twine stays put

The grooves were tight enough that the twine did not come loose

This doesn't need to hold a load in the long run as the duct tape will aid with this

Step 4: Cover in Duct Tape

The next step is covering the belts in duct tape. This should be done carefully, as wrinkles in the tape will make applying the rubber coating harder

Wrap 4" duct tape around top half and then the bottom half of the belts

Take your time as this is pretty easy to mess up. Make sure to crease the tape's edges so it forms a crisp flat belt

Remove the belt from the string aligners by removing one side's C clamps

Finish by taping up the ends, connecting the duct tape into one long belt. It should look like the last image above

Step 5: Apply Grip

This last step is tedious and messy. However, it gives the belts a good amount of grip and makes them much more reliable.

Paint rubber sealant onto one side of the belts

Note that if you use flex seal, the paint will expand slightly as it dries

Try to apply an even coat for a uniform belt

Try to avoid wrinkling the duct tape as much as possible for high quality belts

Immediately wash your paint brush when done otherwise the brushes will become a solid rubber block when it dries

Hang the belt on something while the rubber paint dries (this was about 10 hours for us)

Put wax paper under the belt to prevent the paint from drying onto the hanging surface

Put wax paper on the floor below the belt in case the paint drips

OPTIONAL: Paint the other side of the belt

We chose not to do this because the tension on the belts created enough friction that they did not slip

If you choose to paint both sides, 'finger painting' both sides simultaneously may be easier

The attached image shows our attempt at painting both sides by covering our fingers in electrical tape. That method was a failure :(

Step 6: Test the Finished Product

Test out your belts. If you were able to standardize the process enough, the belts should all have the same ID. Ours did, and you can see them in operation in the attached video. Best of luck to you if you attempt this, it was fun!